Collision Effect In Review – It’s Zybble-rific!

Anyone who’s read my reviews knows I’m a big fan of puzzlers and pick-up-and-play type games on my iPhone. The latest to cross my path is Chillingo’s Collision Effect. Promising unique gameplay and brain teasing challenges, let’s take a look and see why this one’s a winner.

The basic premise behindÂ Collision EffectÂ is to bring cosmic orbs (named Zybbles) of the same color together. The twist is that you’ll have to plan your paths carefully and avoid orbs of different colors from colliding; otherwise, it’s game over.

There are 2 different gameplay modes and 3 levels of difficulty that will definitely keep you busy. The first is “Action”, a non-stop arcade style game where orbs are constantly flying across the screen.Â The second mode is “Puzzle”, where orbs are pre-arranged in a specific pattern and you have to move the right ones in the right order. Careful planning and spot-on timing is crucial if you want to solve some of the later puzzles. Personally I preferred the hectic pace of the former. It’s easy to get going and while it poses a good challenge, it’s not so difficult that you’ll want to pull your hair out.

Collision Effect’s controls are dead simple – simply tap a Zybble and all orbs of that color will instantly start to gravitate towards the very one you activated. Upon collision, the entire color group will explode and disappear from the screen. Once you get going in either mode, the difficulty level gets progressively harder and you’ll soon find yourself in an enjoyable panic trying to get the orbs from point A to B without smashing into other colors. Bonus orbs are also thrown into the mix;Â when used at the right time, they’ll make your life easier AND get you some big points! All bonus items, as well as a very brief explanation of game play are available in the help menu, which is accessible from either the front page or the pause menu.

When it comes to graphics and sound, the game is superb on the iPhone 4. The wide range of colors are bright and vibrant. After each collision, the rainbow effect of particles looks amazing and the accompanying sound effects are terrific. However, asÂ enjoyable as it is to play it on the bigger screen of the iPad (it’s a universal app) it doesn’t quite feel like the devs put as much attention to visual detail in the iPad version as they did on the iPhone/iPod touch. It still looks pretty good mind you, just not as sweet as on the iPhone 4’s retina display.

After each round is complete, your stats are synced online and displayed. And any achievements that you have attained will appear at the bottom of the screen. Having them pop up one after an other is always a nice ego boost. The achievements themselves are available on both the Crystal Network as well as Game Center. For those unfamiliar, Crystal is Chillingo’s own social gaming network, which includes Leaderboards, challenges, achievements, etc. All sorts of goodies to enhance the game.

Collision Effect is a refreshing iOS puzzler that is both addictive and challenging. There’s no doubt that fans of pick-up-and-play games and the genre in particular will enjoy what this one has to offer. The visuals will keep your eyes glued to the screen and the two gameplay modes (and 3 difficulty levels) should provide plenty of hours of play depending on your mood. And of course, the $0.99 price tag makes this an easy buy for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.